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VANCOUVER — Sue Hutchison has a big job with an even bigger title: senior vice-president and head of customer value management, retail banking and wealth management, HSBC Bank Canada.

What she doesn't have is a lot of spare time.

She was able to squeeze in an interview between meetings, the pressure of her regular business deadlines made all the more urgent by the fact she was about to leave on a six-day break with her family, including a 10-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.

It was an appropriate entry point into an article exploring the secrets behind a successful working woman's, well, success, in advance of the Corporate State of Canada: A Women's CEO and Senior Management Summit to be held in Vancouver on May 1.

"Sometimes everything at work is going to be great. Sometimes everything at home is going to be great. Sometimes you get lucky and there are a couple of days when it is all, as my mother would say, tickety-boo," she says.

A career banker who has climbed high in a business that has been slow to welcome women among its most senior ranks, Hutchison has earned a reputation for her confident and straight-shooting management style.

Her "can-do" attitude helped her land her first job with the bank in 2005. As she tells it now, it was no big deal. She was looking for work, and HSBC Canada seemed a good fit with her global banking experience. She picked up the phone and cold-called an executive to introduce herself.

"Apparently I was relentless, according to him," she says of the exchange.

"It was really a good lesson in, 'Just put it out there and see what happens.'"

Hutchison never intended to be a banker. Her first job after graduating with a commerce degree was in marketing in her hometown of Toronto. Eight months later, the company was sold, and the Hutchison was let go, along with the rest of the head-office staff.

At loose ends, a less-than-enthusiastic Hutchison took what she thought would be a temporary sales job with Bank of America.

"I thought, 'Ugh, a bank and sales? I don't want to do either of those things.'" More than 20 years and a master's degree in business administration later, Hutchison has long since changed her mind on that score.

Her drive has propelled her into her current position just two rungs below the president and CEO.

"It's actually a real people business," she says to explain her enduring attraction to the work.

She's covered pretty much every segment in terms of clients over the years, but she says it's the folks behind the big companies that grew from nothing that she likes the best.

They own the business. They came up with the idea. They grew it. They are employing people.

"One of my customers was telling me how he used to make payroll on his credit card," she says, laughing. "And it's a big company. If I told you the name you'd be very surprised."

Hutchison isn't necessarily comfortable giving anyone advice on career success, or anything else for that matter.

She'd rather talk about her own experiences, and how those struggles and triumphs have shaped her as a boss and as a person.

It comes down to that defining belief in what's possible.

"The reality is that we can all do anything that we decide to do," she says. "Now, we may not be able to compete in the Olympics if we just get started today, but other than things like that, we can all change jobs. You could become a lawyer, and I could become a rocket scientist if I really, really wanted to."

It's a refreshing philosophy she takes with her into performance reviews and meetings with staff — a practice she's pushing to see more widely embraced in the corporate world.

"I just don't think as leaders we're bringing out the best in people," she says.

"(We need) to talk about what do you really bring to the table. Let's really bring out those strengths, rather than 'I want you to leave here and practice those three things.'"

The subject of balance is never far from her mind.

This morning saw her rise at 5:30 a.m. so she could do a workout before heading into the office. Her work days are long, and it's not unusual to find her on the computer late into the night or taking phone calls on the way to pick up her kids from school.

Her daughter has asked her outright why some of her friends' moms don't work.

"You know, I think her preference would be that I would be around more," she says. "But, hopefully, what she is learning is that she can have choices."

She offers one final thought: "I hope, in 10 or 15 years when (her daughter) is in the work-force, we're not talking about diversity and gender diversity any more. I hope by then that we've solved it."

Q: How many emails do you get a day?

A: (Laughter) Well, the other day, my secretary was laughing at me because I was eating my breakfast at 2:30 p.m. It was pretty nasty by the time I got around to it."

Q: I know you don't like to give advice, but what would you say to young women and men who are interested in pursuing a high-powered a career like yours?

A: There is no secret recipe. There is no, 'If you do this, then that will happen.' I always say, just cast a wide net. Talk to lots of people. You don't have to say no to anything until you have options, so be busy creating options.

Q: How do you cope with the stresses of the job?

A: I am a big sports person and I think that is a really important part (of balance). They are discovering that, in terms of mental health, that activity and walking — forget about extreme cardio — benefit stress (management) and even depression and things like that.

I just find that it is such an important part, that people have to take time to do things like that, whether they are passionate about a sport or a walk around Stanley Park.

Q: Do you have a favourite leadership book? What makes it important to you?

A: I have two: One is Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter; that's about frameworks and structure and how to think about your market, your industry and your clients. The second is Good to Great by Jim Collins. It is more important because it talks about the difference a leader can make to people, companies and communities.

Vancouver Sun

dahansen@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/darahhansen

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